The Brandon Wheat Kings announced on Tuesday the sale of the hockey club to Brandon-based J & G Group of Companies.
The sale marks the end of an era and transition into a new one in a hockey town that has been blessed to have been under the guidance of Kelly McCrimmon for what amounts to a generation.
I suspect that much of what you hear and read over the coming days will focus on the hockey side of outgoing ownership of the club where there are countless stories to be told about a little prairie city punching well above its weight from year-to-year in a league that finds itself in markets as much as 20x Brandon’s size. I’ll leave those stories to our fine local media, who will no doubt do an excellent job reflecting on WHL Championship titles, Memorial Cup hosting and the development of player-after-player that moved on to make a name for themselves in the National Hockey League.
As much as the on-ice product and accompanying entertainment have been a massive part of the Kelly McCrimmon era in the Wheat City, perhaps less talked about will be the off-ice impact within the community of an organization run to first-class standards.
As much as Kelly is among the best in the business at developing hockey talent, for many the McCrimmon era will also be remembered as a time of focus on community and on the idea that when you support those around you everybody else is better off for it… even if those around you might have a hard time going so far as strapping on a pair of skates.
Those who have followed this site over the years know that my beginnings in business trace back to almost 22 years ago when as a pimple-faced kid sharing a high school with more than a few Wheat Kings of the day I approached the hockey club about this new-fangled initiative of getting it online with this thing called the internet that a few people were starting to use. The support in that effort and the collaboration over the years paved the way for the life in business that I’ve been fortunate to carve out in the two decades since. I can only imagine in a hockey town and our corner of the province how many other stories there are like mine of folks who have since found their place in life and can trace their roots through the McCrimmon era.
I have no doubt that with its new role at the helm of Brandon’s hockey team J & G Group knows full-well what they’re signing up for and that they’re prepared to roll up their sleeves, take the baton and continue the legacy that the hockey club has in the community both at the rink and well past its bounds in Southwestern Manitoba.
I’d like to pass along a huge thank you to Kelly for his time and contributions and wish J & G the best of luck at the helm of the community institution that is the Wheat Kings Hockey Club.
Updated: Sept 8, 2:15pm. Added details after announcement of sale.